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list.co.uk/books Reviews | BOOKS
CRIME FICTION CHRIS BROOKMYRE Dead Girl Walking (Little, Brown) ●●●●●
Fans of two of the Tartan Noir genre’s most successful authors will be pleased to know that Ian Rankin’s Rebus isn’t the only semi-retired character who has been brought back into full use of late. It was with investigative journalist Jack Parlabane that Chris Brookmyre first made his name through 1996 debut Quite Ugly One Morning and its follow-up Country of the Blind.
This sixth instalment in the Parlabane saga is the first since 2007’s The Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, and it finds both character and author exploring a very different landscape in Jack’s profession.
When we first meet ‘Alec Forman’, Parlabane's new byline, he’s being interviewed in a London police station on how an MP’s stolen laptop came into his possession. These are gloomy times for the journalist, his wife having left him, and his career in a mess thanks to his appearance at the Leveson Inquiry. Not because of the shady practices revealed but because he got scapegoated, and now ‘the job he did no longer existed’.
Needing work, he takes on an assignment for a late friend’s sister to find her disappeared client Heike Gunn, singer with the rock group Savage Earth Heart. The story unfolds from both Parlabane’s perspective as he trawls Berlin to Colonsay looking for the woman, and that of Monica, a Shetland fiddler who’s writing a blog detailing her time with the band. Brookmyre can’t quite escape the air of self-consciousness inherent in trying to capture the designed-in spontaneity of the music industry, but his own snappy prose and awareness of the situations he describes is as sharp as the satisfyingly fast- paced plotting. (David Pollock) Out now.
LITERARY FICTION WAYNE PRICE Mercy Seat (Freight Books) ●●●●● WAR FICTION RL MCKINNEY Blast Radius (Sandstone) ●●●●●
This debut novel from one of the most exhilarating short story writers to recently emerge is a bleak and gripping meditation on family, love and lust in a Welsh coastal town. A desire to forget his childhood leads
Luke to relocate to work on a farm, where he meets his wife-to-be, Jenny. All is well for the couple and their baby son until the arrival of Jenny’s estranged sister Christine, whose two weeks with the family force Luke to make a life-changing decision as a dark mystery slowly reveals itself.
This is a heavily character-driven novel, short on action but strong on interplay. Luke and Christine's scenes stand out, thanks to Price’s ability to wring tension out of every page. The silences he creates between exchanges are remarkable: unspoken tension rolls across the narrative.
There’s elegance in Price’s sentences; his prose is lyrical and hugely engaging. Mercy Seat grips instantly and squeezes tighter with each chapter, as the relationships between sisters and husband head inexorably towards collapse. (Kevin Scott) Out Mon 23 Feb.
Many great novels have explored the difficulties faced by a soldier returning from combat. It's this issue that RL McKinney addresses in her debut novel. Though the recognisable premise is sensitively handled, this pedestrian tale fails to stand out from the crowd. Sean McNicol, the book’s troubled
protagonist, who was saved from death in Afghanistan by his best friend Mitch, is tormented by the after-effects of the war. His hearing is damaged, but that doesn’t stop Mitch’s voice from filling his head on a daily basis. Now back in Scotland and living with his sister, he must learn to deal with his past, build a future for himself and finally silence his friend’s voice. The novel’s basis is strong, but the story’s characters are poorly formed and rarely inspire a connection with the reader. The dialogue feels forced, unnatural and largely unbelievable, and the conclusion is as lacklustre as it is inevitable. The book’s potential was great, but frustratingly, it proves much less engaging than a story exploring war’s many battles has the capacity to be. (Rebecca Monks) Out Thu 19 Feb.
ROMANCTIC FICTION EMMA HOOPER Etta and Otto and Russell and James (Penguin) ●●●●●
Parts of Emma Hooper’s debut read like Wes Anderson adapting a Cormac McCarthy novel. She captures the dusty, empty fields of Saskatchewan with the similar staccato rhythm of the All the Pretty Horses author, while imbuing this sweet story – in which 82 year old Etta sets off on a 2000 mile trek to Halifax on Canada’s east coast to see the ocean – with the kind of deadpan quirkiness that characterises The Grand Budapest Hotel director’s style.
Etta leaves behind not only her
husband Otto but their friend, neighbour and Etta’s former lover, Russell, and the novel switches between their shared past and present. It’s a sweet story that’s best read to a soundtrack of Hooper’s own music (she plays ‘dino-viola-pop’ in her Waitress for the Bees solo project). But while it starts strongly, later chapters – flashbacks to Etta and Otto’s wartime correspondence – tell an overly-familiar story. Russell too gets a little forgotten about and his tale feels incomplete. Still, it’s an endearing romance about some loveable characters. (Yasmin Sulaiman) Out now.
DYSTOPIAN FICTION ANNA SMAILL The Chimes (Sceptre) ●●●●●
The Chimes is set in a world controlled by a vast instrument that renders people unable to form new memories. Believing in a time before The Chimes is ‘blasphony’, but there are still a few who hold the power to remember. Enter Simon, who has been sent to
London – although he can’t always remember why. He falls in with a group of pactrunners, people who search for a metal they sell to the mysterious Order to maintain the instrument. However, Simon and group leader Lucien find that there’s more to the metal than they first thought, a discovery that leads them right into the very heart of the Order.
Poet and musician Anna Smaill has
created an exciting debut, a book full of rhythm, energy and melody. The first half is so ethereal, odd and beguiling that it’s almost hypnotic. The second half feels more like a traditional thriller – it has pace and plot, but feels clunky compared with the first. Yet there’s no doubt that Smaill has
created a distinctive and impressive debut, one that dares to create its own music. (Kylie Grant) Out Thu 12 Feb.
5 Feb–2 Apr 2015 THE LIST 51